Lok Sabha elections 2024: MVA finalises seat-sharing in Maharashtra; Uddhav's Shiv Sena to contest 21 seats, Congress 17

The Opposition in Maharashtra, the Mahavikas Aghadi alliance, has reached a consensus on the seat sharing formula in the state to contest the Lok Sabha elections 2024 together. As per the final seat-sharing deal, Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena will contest on 21 seats in Maharashtra, getting the major chunk in the 48 Lok Sabha seats. Congress has agreed to fight the polls on 17, while Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) will contest on 10 Lok Sbaha constituencies.

The “large hearted” Congress gave up its claim on the contentious Sangli and Bhiwandi seats. These two seats will now be contested by the Shiv Sena (UBT) and the NCP (SP), respectively. Congress says the bigger objective is to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which itself has predicted to cross 400 seats mark in the Lok Sabha elections 2024.

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SHIV SENA WILL CONTEST FOLLOWING SEATS: Jalgaon, Parbhani, Nashik, Palghar, Kalyan, Thane, Raigad, Maval, Osmanabad, Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg, Buldhana, Hathkanangkale, Aurangabad, Shirdi, Sangli, Hingoli, Yavatmal-Washim, Mumbai South, Mumbai South Central, Mumbai North West and Mumbai North East seats.

CONGRESS TO CONTEST: Nandurbar, Dhule, Akola, Amravati, Nagpur, Bhandara-Gondia, Gadchiroli-Chimur, Chandrapur, Nanded, Jalna, Mumbai North Central, Mumbai North, Pune, Latur, Solapur, Kolhapur and Ramtek seats.

NCP TO CONTEST: Baramati, Shirur, Satara, Bhiwandi, Dindori, Madha, Raver, Wardhan, Ahmednagar South and Beed seats.

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NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray and state Congress president Nana Patole announced the poll pact for the 48 parliamentary seats in the state after weeks of hectic negotiations. Addressing a press conference, Uddhav Thackeray said the larger goal is to defeat the BJP.

When asked about Shiv Sena refusing to give Sangli to Congress, Uddhav Thackeray said, “When victory against the BJP is the larger goal, we have to set aside certain differences.”

Reacting to PM Modi terming his party as “fake Shiv Sena”, Uddhav Thackeray said, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech yesterday was not that of a prime minister. When we respond, please don't take it as an insult of the prime minister. Our criticism will be about a leader of a corrupt party.”

"It is not right for a leader of the party of extortionists to call us fake," Uddhav Thackeray said.